By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday September 5, 2024

 

Jessica Pegula ended her run of Grand Slam quarterfinal futility with an electrifying win over World No.1 Iga Swiatek on Wednesday at the US Open.

New York—Jessica Pegula is a Grand Slam semifinalist. Never mind the last three years, which saw the frustration mount and the questions multiply as Pegula lost her first six major quarterfinals.



The Buffalo, NY native put it all behind her in one fell swoop with a convincing 6-2, 6-4 victory over World No.1 and 2022 US Open champion Iga Swiatek on Wednesday night in the Arthur Ashe night session.

Pegula, who had not reached beyond the second round in her two major appearances this year, will face Czech Karolina Muchova in the semifinals on Thursday night in New York.

It’s been a special tournament for the Americans, as two American woman and two American men have reached the semifinals at the US Open for the first time since 2003.

Pegula is stoked to be one of the four.

“I would like to say I'm so happy that you guys cannot ask me about making it to the semis,” she told reporters after her victory. “I'm really happy to be through to the semifinals.”

Pegula stepped out to a 4-0 lead against Swiatek and never looked back. She earns her fourth career win over a reigning World No.1 and her fourth career victory over Swiatek as well.



“I feel like I didn't really do anything that bad, and was able to kind of jump on her really early and I think frustrate her, and was able to keep my level even when she picked it up in the second set,” the No.6 seed said.

“I think I just played all-around really good tennis today.”

Pegula was quick out of the corners, quick to pounce on Swiatek’s weaker serves, and generally proactive at all moments in the match, even when the Pole picked up her game early in the second set and broke back to be on serve in the middle of set two.

The American says her movement is one of the big reasons she has played so well this summer during a spell that has seen her win 14 of 15 matches and sweep through a title run in Toronto.

“I definitely think my movement is improved compared to the beginning of this year,” she said. “I remember in Australia I felt slow and not moving well. Not that I'm going to be, like, a super explosive mover like an Iga or Coco type of thing, but I just didn't feel like I was moving that well.



“That's something I've been working on the last couple of months with the new coaches that I've hired. One of them is really big into the movement around the court, so we kind of focused on that.”

Swiatek was broken four times in nine service games, and only won 56 percent of her first serve points. She finished with 12 winners and 41 unforced errors.

“It was hard for me to find, like, a proper solution for that,” she said, after dropping to 6-4 lifetime against Pegula. “It's never easy to play against Jess. She has a tricky ball because it's pretty low and pretty flat.

“I wouldn't say she changed like a lot, because it's impossible to change her game style, but for sure she was more solid than me and made much less mistakes. Usually I'm able to push it back or put pressure on myself, but today I just made too many mistakes.”